Lyft partners with Guild Education to offer drivers tuition discounts

Lyft is going to start offering its drivers access to college advising and tuition discounts for classes, certificates and degrees through Guild Education. The discounts for Lyft drivers will range between five to 20 percent off, with the average Lyft driver working to earn a degree saving $4,220 per year.

The majority of Lyft drivers are part-time, with 93 percent driving less than 20 hours a week, and looking to achieve long-term goals, the company said in a press release.

“We know that many Lyft drivers are working to achieve personal or professional goals, which often include continued education and learning,” Lyft Co-founder and President John Zimmer said in a statement.” We’re happy to offer this resource to help drivers succeed both on and off the platform.”

Through Guild, drivers will have access to thousands of classes from more than 80 online, non-profit universities and other learning providers. The programs include Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, certificates in data science and HTML, GEDs and more.

Guild’s education providers include edX, Bellevue University, University of Denver, Wilmington University and others. The startup, which raised a $21 million Series B round in September, also works with companies like Chipotle, Taco Bell and other Fortune 1000 companies.

Lyft competitor Uber has also offered education incentives to its drivers. In September, for example, Uber partnered with South Seattle College to create a scholarship program for up to three-quarters of pre-paid tuition.